Where There's Smoke
by AvenJackel
Summary: ...there's fire. And, for common thief Vixen, smoke is everywhere. With a unknown past to find and an always intriguing relationship with the Dynamic Dunderheads, Vixen is truly a mystery that leaves the Team stumped. But it is the doings of the Light that leave her confused. Will her time as a double agent change everything? Will Vixen see the Light? Or will she stay in the Dark?


**Washington, DC  
July 4, 14:21 EDT**

As I sprinted down hall after hall, flames chasing right after me and alarms blaring in my head, I knew only one absolute truth: I was screwed.

I rounded a corner, my foot nearly skidding out from underneath me. For a split second, my mind and body went into panic mode, before I righted myself and continued running. Even over the ear-shattering alarms, I could hear the resounding clopping of shoes against the floor. Chancing a quick glance behind, I noticed with slight relief that the spreading flames had successfully held back all security. Unfortunately, the relief caused me to lose my focus, and my body slammed full force into a metal surface before I could turn back around. The wind rushed out of my lungs and I fell onto my butt painfully.

My head felt full of fuzz and my chest throbbed from the impact, but I swiftly picked myself back up and faced the wall I had run into. Instead of a wall, I was met with the doors of an elevator sliding open. Perhaps unwisely, I froze, ignoring the crackling of the growing fire and the more distant shouts of trapped people. Some annoying voice at the back of my head told me to get out while I could.

But the other voice had always been much louder.

It occurred to me, as I stepped onto the elevator, that it shouldn't be functional in current conditions, but I pushed the thought aside and watched as the doors closed. Before I knew what was happening, the elevator plummeted. My stomach wasn't far behind. The sensation was akin to going down a hill on a rollercoaster, where you can feel your insides shift and you think that you're lifted out of your seat but you really aren't. I had half the mind to believe that I nearly went flying into the ceiling of the elevator. Although that didn't happen, I did collapse on my face when the lift came to a screeching halt. Just how far down could you go in a two story building?

Cursing under my breath, I got to my feet and rubbed my face as if it would help (which it didn't). My back muscles rippled as I stretched and rolled my shoulders. Already I could feel a bruise forming on my forehead, not to mention all the bruises on my arms and legs.

The doors slid open with a seriously ominous hissing sound, revealing a grotesque scene that left a sour taste in my mouth. I didn't have much time to dwell on my surroundings before _**something**_ attacked me. It looked like a horrid combination of a monkey and a lizard, a monzard (or would it be lizkey?). Razor sharp claws sliced through my sleeve and into my arm, leaving three jarring scars down from my shoulder to my elbow.

Anger and hatred boiled in the pit of my stomach and I felt my hands heat up automatically. I slammed my foot into the creature, sending it back into the gathering mob that had assembled in front of the elevator. There were more monzards, a few mini-monkey things beside them, and even more _**mammoths**_ beyond that.

"That was my favorite jacket," was all I managed to spit out before all the creatures lunged straight at me.

The fire upstairs had drained me and left me feeling weary, my vision swimming as I attempted to fight back against the swarming creatures. I tried to clench my hands into fists, to draw upon the elusive warmth that flowed up my arms, but the things slammed me to the ground and held me there. My concentration broke and I lost any connection, before I felt anger take over and my vision go red. It was by instinct alone that I lashed out at the creatures, but it was by brute force that they managed to hold me to the ground.

"You're impulsive behavior really gets you in the biggest messes, doesn't it, Vixen?" a cold voice spoke up in the eerie quiet that suddenly coated the battlefield.

My eyes narrowed in distaste and I twisted my head every which way to try and find who was talking. But all I could see were the emotionless eyes of the monsters that had me pinned to the ground. Once more, I tried to draw out the warmth from inside, but to no avail. I was too tired, my head too unfocused and my body too drained. Nothing was working.

"But I must thank you," the voice continued. "I was beginning to think that we wouldn't have any subjects."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" I spat out.

Suddenly a man was looming over me, looking down at me with the one 'I'm so mind-blowingly evil and now I'm going to prove it' look that was all too familiar to me. He seemed to be middle-aged with a severe face that reminded me of people who had seen too much death. Although, if his eyes were anything to go by, he wasn't really bothered by all the death he had witnessed. The man was wearing a stark white lab coat and plain black pants, resulting in a very stereotypical scientist look. His only distinguishing feature was the fact that his dull brown hair was thrown into a low ponytail.

Obviously he needed advice when it came to what was hot and what was not.

He didn't answer my question, instead just producing a threatening looking needle from one of his pockets and leaning over towards me. I could tell where the needle was going to go, right into the crook of my arm, and I struggled to shift and make him miss. Unfortunately, the creatures must've expected that, and they compensated by gripping my arm tighter. The needle pierced directly into the main vein of my right arm, the same one that was scraped up by the monzard.

The effects were immediate. At first, there was a searing pyric sensation, which raced up my veins and throughout my body with alarming speed. My already bleary vision began to tunnel into darkness from the uncomfortable and painful feeling. Before I succumbed completely to the darkness, though, I felt all the burning fade into an icy numbness that replaced everything.

"Prepare the experiment," Ponytail's snappish voice sounded distant and blurred, like it was underwater, as my consciousness continued to diminish. Looks like I wasn't going to be getting that information.

I hated Mondays.

* * *

**Washington, DC  
July 4, 15:06 EDT**

It was that one feeling, half between being awake and being asleep, like I was merely floating in a pool of nothingness. My world was completely calm. There were no battles between black and white, no need to pick a side in a never ending war that could never truly be resolved, no worries of loss, no feeling of searing flames that never went away. There was just absolutely nothing. And I was okay with it, reveled in it, in fact. I was free, and at peace for once. I was blissful.

But, like everything else, my bliss only lasted for so long.

This feeling was much different than waking up. It wasn't refreshing or reassuring. No, it was like getting up after a nightmare, when the heart races all too fast and everything in the mind is so disoriented that the difference between up and down is hardly distinguishable. All too familiar heat rushed through my veins, bright lights found their way to my open eyes and seared my pupils, and cold air rushed over my skin to give me goosebumps. Everything was a swirling mess, and I had to squeeze my eyes shut as I felt my numbed feet stumble and send me to the ground.

Before I could collide with the floor, something (or maybe someone? I couldn't tell) caught me. I was lowered carefully to the ground, the stone cold ground an intense difference than my body heat, making me arch my back at the unexpected change. There was a buzzing in my ears and my nose felt stuffed, as if my brain was trying not to overload itself with so much new information. Even through the buzzing though, I could hear someone talking.

"Dude, what's wrong with her?" Male, probably teenaged if the slight voice crack was anything to go by. More than likely, he was annoying. I could already tell just by his inflection.

"It seems as if the pod blocked off all her senses. Her brain will have to sift through all the information before it can right itself." Another male, older and more mature than the first. Possibly a soldier, or maybe just a stiff. It was hard to tell the difference sometimes.

"We have to be careful. Overstimulation can be dangerous to mess with." Once again, it was a male, this one younger than the others. But, unlike the first two, this one was familiar...

My eyes flew open in realization, my body automatically throwing itself into an upright sitting position. But I had moved to fast, and I ended up bashing my head into the other boy's and causing my vision to spin wildly. I fell back onto the ground and pressed a hand to my forehead, blinking rapidly to clear the black dots that speckled my sight. Sucking in a breath, I calmed my oddly racing heart before daring to look around.

I settled on a familiar face, one which had a sour and annoyed look while he rubbed his forehead slightly. Propping myself up on my elbows, I crossed my ankles and cocked my head to the side, portraying the very definition of cool. "What's up, Twinkle Toes?" I remarked casually, receiving an exasperated glare from the boy in question.

"Matches," he nodded in greeting.

"What? A nod? That's all I get, Baby Bird?" I pouted playfully.

Even with his domino mask on, I could tell he rolled his eyes at me. "Good to see you too, Fire Cracker. By the way, this makes it 3:2, my favor," he smirked in triumph.

"Oh, bullshit," I cried. "Last week's run in with Ivy doesn't count, so it's 2:2. Quit trying to cheat," I admonished.

"Are you okay?" he suddenly changed the topic, looking over the three scars on my shoulder that were already beginning to heal.

"Don't worry your pretty little head over it," I scoffed. "I've had worse before," I shrugged off his concern.

"Wait," a carrot-top teen behind Boy Blunder spoke up in confusion. "You two know each other?"

"No, Streaky," I replied, my voice dripping with sarcasm, "we just happen to make friendly conversation with complete strangers." I stood up gingerly, loosening all my tight muscles and cracking all of my fingers, smirking to myself when I saw Robin wrinkle his nose in distaste.

"It's _**Kid Flash**_!" my fellow ginger cried in frustration. "Why is it so hard to remember?"

"It's not," I deadpanned. "I just enjoy bothering you."

The speedster opened his mouth to complain, but the third teen spoke up before he got the chance. "Who are you?" the oldest of the three wondered. I wasn't positive, but I figured he was Aquadude's lackey from Atlantis (was it Aquaboy? Water Boy? Wait, that last one was an Adam Sandler movie...).

"I am the bringer of darkness, the oncoming storm, the pounding of thunder and flash of lightning in the darkest of dreams! I am the whipping of wind, the bump of things in the night, that shadow at the corner of your eye! I am your biggest fear! I am-"

"This is Vixen," Robin interrupted my spiel, completely ruining the mood. "A thief from Gotham."

My arms, which had been outstretched to add to my whole 'psychotic villain' look, fell to my sides before I crossed them and pouted sourly. "Killjoy," I muttered moodily. "I was working on my villain title announcement. I even had the psycho look in my eyes down."

"Have you been spending time with the Joker?" the Boy Wonder questioned me.

"Why would I hang out with Paste Face?" I rolled my eyes. "But I did spend the weekend with Uncle Harv."

Robin looked like he was about to ask, before he thought better of that and shook his head. I looked around for the first time and noticed that we were in some sort of lab. The walls were a hard metallic substance, and there wasn't much in the spacious room aside from a pod behind me and a control panel. Another thing I noticed was that my prized combat boots were missing, as was my leather biker jacket, leaving me in just a pair of well-worn black skinny jeans and a white wife-beater, stainless steel dog tags hanging against my thin chest.

"Where is your guys' other boyfriend?" I wondered, noticing his absence just as Robin began to lead all of us back out of the lab.

"What?" Aquaboy's eyebrows rose at the implications. Were all Atlanteans this naïve?

"You know," I rolled my eyes as if it were obvious (which it was). "The _**other**_ annoying red head. About yea high," I held my hand up about as high as I could. "Arrogant, stuck-up, thinks he's king of the world."

"You mean Speedy?" Flash Boy caught on.

"Yeah. Little John," I nodded in confirmation. "Where's he at?"

"He isn't here," Robin replied shortly, his tone telling me that I should just leave it.

"What's the matter? Did the barber shop quartet have a breakup?" I mocked as the four of us stepped out into a hallway made of more metal walls and headed down one way.

"Do you want to do back in the pod?" Slowpoke Rodriguez snapped.

I narrowed my eyes and clenched my jaw shut. "I was just asking," I muttered, now in a bad mood. Freaking heroes, they were never very good to talk with.

We lapsed into silence, broken only by our footfalls as we wondered down hall after hall. The three seemed content to follow Robin's lead, as he was currently looking at a map on his wrist holographic computer thing. But I felt restless being underground for so long, and soon, after so many minutes of wandering around, my limited patience was wearing down and I had to dig my fingernails into the palms of my gloves to stop myself from just punching a wall already, or, better yet, one of the dunderheads in front of me.

"So, why are you sidekicks here?" I spoke up eventually, both curious to the answer and sick of the silence.

"We aren't sidekicks," Kid Flash grumbled.

"Denial isn't just a river in Egypt," I quipped.

"Why are you here?" Fish Boy question back.

"None of your business, Fish Stick," I snapped. "Besides, I asked first. What, did the League send their dogs to do their dirty work?" I remarked scathingly.

"We came by ourselves," Streaky admitted, puffing out his chest slightly as if proud of it.

"What he means," Robin spoke up, "is that there was a fire on ground level. The League was busy, so we had to handle the situation ourselves," he clarified. "I'm assuming that the fire had to do with you?" the Boy Wonder guessed knowingly, as we came upon a huge metal door that he hacked into.

"Assuming makes an ass out of you and me," I teased playfully.

But the smirk dropped off of my face when the door slid open, revealing a cavernous room filled with gigantic lightning bugs in canisters. There was row after row of them, stacked on top of each other and taking up all the space on the sides of the room. Due to the light (which I assumed was from a form of electricity they produced), the entire room was bathed in a pale blue shade, of which I preferred over the eerie red that seemed to coat every other place in this hell hole.

"I'm officially whelmed," Robin commented quietly, being the first to break our stunned silence.

I whistled lowly, before it dawned on me what Robin had said and I furrowed my eyebrows in thought. Was whelmed really a word? Or was he just going through another phase? My god, as long as it wasn't as annoying as his whole 'Holy Batman!' spiel, then I'd be happy.

We took some tentative steps into the room, Streaky and Water Boy leading the way while Bird Brain and I trailed behind slightly. Getting closer, I could hear and almost feel all the electricity that was being given off. There was a high-pitched humming that seemed to fill my ears, and the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. A shiver passed up my spine, and I discretely wrapped my arms around my torso.

"This is how they managed to stay off of the grid," Streaky commented seriously. "These things must make all the electricity that they need."

"Of course," Water Boy agreed. "Even the name is a clue. Cadmus of myth created a new race by sewing dragon's teeth into the earth."

"This CADMUS creates new life too," Robin realized, before heading over to a computer thing. "Let's find out why."

Kid Flash and Water Boy (I seriously just couldn't remember his name) followed behind Robin, but I stayed back, gazing up at the poor creatures locked inside the test tube canisters. My curiosity got the better of me, and I found myself getting closer to them, going so far as to hop up onto the first shelf that they were on. I tentatively rested my hand on one of the canisters, relieved when I found that I wasn't shocked by the contact. Leaning in, I lightly rested my forehead against the glass and stared at the creature, wondering if it could tell that I was there or not.

"They call them genomorphs," I vaguely heard Robin explain.

"They're kinda cute," I remarked, tilting my head to the side and widening my eyes when the lightning bug in the canister opened its own eyes.

"Woah! The stats on these things are through the roof!" Robin exclaimed, but I was too focused on the beady black eyes that gazed straight into my soul to notice.

Its eyes followed my every move, now that they were open. But that wasn't the unnerving bit. What bothered me was how empty those eyes were, like there was nothing inside of them and they were just _**there**_. Were the creatures sentient? Or did they not realize that they could've had a better life had they not been born into CADMUS? Either way, I couldn't help but pity them.

But I couldn't continue staring into its soulless eyes. So I broke my gaze and turned back to where the three sidekicks were. I was about to hop down from the shelf and join them, when someone that I had never seen before charged into the room with a gang of monzards behind him.

"Don't move," the guy, who seemed to be wearing a costume of some sort, snapped viciously.

Of course, my first instinct was to immediately turn to face him, resulting in my disobedience of the order. Don't worry, though, I would've broken any of his rules anyway. The sight of more monzards made my hands clench, nails digging into the black leather of the fingerless gloves I wore. I _**really**_ hated those things, almost as much as I hated being trapped underground with my only allies being three apparently rogue sidekicks.

"Wait," Bucket Head, the one guy, suddenly stopped, as if having to do a double take. "Robin, Aqualad, Kid Flash? And Vixen?"

Aqualad! That's what it was! I would've facepalmed if we weren't currently in a potentially dangerous situation. How could I forget that his name was _**Aqualad**_? It was pretty straightforward. Although Aquaboy just seemed much more American to me...Maybe that's why he didn't pick it...

"I know you," Aqualad spoke up first. "You're Guardian, a hero," he realized.

"Guess that explains the horrible costume," I commented drily, lightly leaping down from the shelf and sauntering over to the boys, hands stuffed into my pockets.

The monzards inched forwards, as if they were completely willing to rip us to shreds, but they held back when Bucket Head didn't give them the order to attack.

"What are you doing here?" Kid Flash demanded.

"I think that's my question, kids," Bucket Head replied steadily. "I'm the Chief of Security and you're all trespassing. Don't worry, we can call the League and we can figure this out."

"And then somebody will get their ass whooped," I practically sang to Bucket Head mockingly. "And hopefully it won't be me," I added as an afterthought.

"The League isn't going to approve of you breeding _**weapons**_!" Kid Flash shouted angrily.

I could practically feel the tensions in the room rising. It was not a good sign. A fight was going to break out soon, I could just tell. My head was still a bit fuzzy from the drugs that Ponytail had given me, and I was already too drained. The warmth that laced up my arms was dulled at best, and I knew for a fact that I wouldn't be able to draw it out when our encounter turned into an attack. All I had was a bit of martial arts and maybe a spark or two that I could use in a fight, but nothing substantial. I was defenseless.

Dammit.

My hands curled into fists, and I discretely inched behind Flash Boy so that I wasn't in the direct line of fire. Bucket Head tried to argue, but he seemed confused for a split second, before his demeanor changed entirely. And then the monzards were lunging at the four of us.

Robin reacted immediately, swinging in front of us and throwing several smoke pellets at the ground in order for us to escape. I automatically leaped forward, towards where I had last seen one of the monzards. Warmth rushed up my arms and pooled into my hands, and I felt a familiar spark tingling at the end of my fingers. My hands latched around something in the smoke, and I heard the satisfying sizzling of burnt skin before I released and continued on my way. As I raced off, my bare feet slapped against the metallic ground painfully, and resounding slaps followed my movement.

Now I was completely drained, running on only adrenaline and the single granola bar that I had eaten at five in the morning. My bare feet felt clumsy and I nearly skidded into a wall, but I managed to catch myself and dart out of the lightning bug room and into a hallway. I saw Robin's cape disappear around a corner, and I pushed my legs to run faster in order to catch up with him. Behind me, I could hear the sounds of Fish Stick and Slowpoke fighting, but I managed to slide next to Robin before either of them caught up.

I struggled to catch my breath. Normally, I could do something like this all day, but whatever they had drugged me with was taking its toll. My arms were shaking, probably from adrenaline and energy over-usage or something like that, and my head was spinning. The scars on my right arm and shoulder had torn back open from the minimal healing and were dripping a few drops of blood down the length of my appendage. Nothing major, but enough to send waves of pain to my head. Robin seemed to notice, and he paused in his hacking to cast an analytical glance in my direction, before going back to get the door open.

"Way to be a team player, Rob," Kid Flash remarked angrily when he caught up to us.

"Weren't you right behind me?" Robin replied with a smirk. "Come on KF, even Vixen kept up."

"What's that supposed to mean?!" I snapped, crossing my arms and scowling.

"That you don't have superspeed," Bird Brain explained with a chuckle, just as the elevator door slid open and the three of us got in.

"_**He**_ barely does," I mumbled to myself.

Fish Stick came running around the bend of the corner, several monzards trailing behind him. He was heading towards the elevator, but the doors were quickly closing.

"Close the doors, close the doors!" I shouted.

"Not without Aqualad!" Kid Flash protested angrily.

Fish Boy ended up leaping onto the elevator just as the doors closed, leaving the four of us safely in the lift. I leaned against the back wall of the elevator, sliding to the ground and wrapping my arms around my knees. Exhaustion was really taking a toll on me, my hands shaking and my head pounding, and my stomach consistently rumbled quietly to itself.

The elevator lurched into movement, although I noticed with furrowed eyebrows that we were headed down, deeper into the thick of things. I cocked one of my eyebrows, black eyes shifting upwards to stare at the back of Bird Brain's head.

"Dude," Streaky spoke up in frustration. "Out is up."

"I'm not an idiot," Robin rolled his eyes behind his domino mask. "But Project Kr is on sublevel fifty-two, and we're going to go check it out."

"Wait," I murmured in confusion. "What's Project Kr?" I wondered.

"Were you listening at all?" Baby Bird sent a glare in my direction.

"I have selective hearing," I deadpanned.

"This is getting out of hand," Fish Stick commented gravely. "We should contact the League."

"And what?" I reasoned pessimistically, gathering my feet under me and standing to my full height (a _**staggering**_ four feet) to face the much taller teen boys. "Be rescued by the League and go back to them empty-handed?" I scoffed. "If you're going to do something behind someone's back, at least do it well."

"We aren't going behind their backs," Slowpoke Rodriguez groaned long-sufferingly.

"Sure you ain't," I drew out sarcastically.

"Aren't," Robin automatically corrected.

"Whatever," I scoffed.

"Well, here we are," Aqualad brought up, directing all of our attention to the opening elevator doors.

The walls seemed to be made of some sort of organic material, like we were inside a living organ. Okay, ew, not a very pleasant visual. Robin only paused for a second before he ran off. I cast out a curious glance around, before racing after the Boy Blunder with Streaky and Fish Boy close behind. My still bare feet squished slightly into the ground, causing me to wince at the unsavory feeling and it smelled faintly of a weird mixture of chemical cleaner and burnt steak.

We came upon a metallic platform, the change of scenery a brief reprieve from the disgusting feeling of the rest of the hall. I ducked behind a metal box thing beside Robin. He pulled up his holographic computer, looking through the blueprints of the lab in order to decide which path in front of us to take.

"Which way?" Fish Stick asked Robin.

"Creepy hallway number one or creepy hallway number two?" Robin weighed.

"I pick hallway number one," I decided definitively.

"Why?" Kid Flash wondered.

"Call it intuition."

At least, that's what sounded good until a demonic Fu Manchu showed up in hallway number one.

"Some intuition," Streaky muttered, sending a glare in my direction.

"I'm a trouble magnet," I shrugged, also scowling back at the speedster.

Robin rolled his eyes behind his mask, before he threw several explosive Batarangs at Fu Manchu. We reacted immediately. As Fu Manchu telepathically held the Batarangs in midair, they exploded right in his face and caused him to lose his focus long enough for us to head down creepy hallway number two. My feet slapped against the slimy ground, and I nearly lost my balance several times.

Kid Flash dashed ahead of us, completely knocking over a female scientist when he skidded to a halt. He noticed the metal doors sliding closed. Fortunately, those doors read "Kr" in bold letters. In order to stop the doors long enough to let us in, Streaky got a pressurized can and wedged it between the two sides. He turned back and frantically ushered us into the room.

Pushing my legs to go faster, I sprinted past Fish Boy and Bird Brain, shoving all three of the sidekicks out of my way in order to get inside before they did. "Ladies first!" I called out in explanation. What can I say, self-preservation always come first in my mind.

The sidekicks made it into the room safely behind me. I suppose it was a good thing that they weren't slowing me down, although the speedster was really grating on my nerves.

"The door's locked," Robin informed us from where he was meddling with CADMUS' systems again. "They can't get in."

"And we can't get out," Fish Stick observed.

"Don't be a pessimist," I scoffed, black eyes flitting every which way. They settled onto the high-tech pod that was centered in the middle of the room. It was nicer than the pod I had been in, probably intended for a longer stay. On it was the "Kr", just like on the doors. I stopped right in front of the pod, while Kid Flash was by the control panel.

"Guys," he called to the others, "you might want to check this out."

Robin and Aqualad walked over to join Streaky, just as the speedster pressed a button. The lights dimmed in the room, and the foggy paneling on the pod slipped away to reveal a boy. Well, he wasn't really a boy compared to me, as he looked to be a good five years older and at _**least**_ a head and a half taller, but still a boy nonetheless. He was pretty good looking, with his strong build and deceptively peaceful face.

"Who is he?" I wondered quietly, oddly hushed by the atmosphere of the room. "Is he a friend of yours?"

"What makes you say that?" Kid Flash replied, his own tone quieted.

"He's locked up in an illegal lab and is wearing spandex," I commented off-handedly. "That seems to be a hero's MO."

We were all quiet for a few moments, letting everything sink in.

"Robin," Aqualad spoke up, breaking the silence. "Hack."

"Right," the Bird Brain set to it, tapping into CADMUS files and pulling them up for all of us to see.

I ducked behind the control panel, having to get up on the tips of my toes in order to see what was on the screen.

"Project Kr, codenamed Superboy," Robin read off of the file. "He's the clone of _**Superman**_," the Boy Wonder breathed out.

All our gazes were focused back onto the pod, looking at the cloned boy with new perception. "Well, damn," I murmured, my voice barely more than a breath.

"Big 'K', little 'r'," Streaky realized, "the atomic symbol for Krypton. I doubt the big guy doesn't know about this."

"I doubt any of the League know about this," Aqualad added.

"He was force grown in _**sixteen**_ _**weeks**_," Robin continued in shock. "The dude's just a baby. His powersuit absorbs energy from the yellow sun twenty-four/seven, and the Genomorphs telepathically teach him."

"This is wrong," Fish Stick observed, voice both sympathetic and disgusted.

"No, really?" I drawled out sarcastically, scowling at the ground and crossing my arms to hold back the shaking I felt in them.

"They're keeping Superman's _**son**_ in a cage!" Streaky seemed livid.

"They have their own little Kryptonian to use against heroes," I brought up casually, more focused on scuffing my big toe on the ground and not shivering or shaking than on the current conversation. "Sounds pretty beneficial to me," I shrugged.

"How could you say that?" Kid Mouth cried in disgust.

"I'm not _**praising**_ the idea," I snapped back. "I'm just saying that it's convenient!"

The speedster took a step towards me, and I straightened to my full height, his bright green eyes locking with my coal black ones. Aqualad stepped between the two of us before any fight could break out (not that I would've minded; Streaky seemed to be an easy opponent to me).

"Enough," the Atlantean all but ordered, looking between the two of us. "We cannot turn on each other now."

"Tell that to the criminal," Slowpoke Rodriguez muttered, but he willingly turned back to face the Test Tube Teen.

My bony hands curled into tense fists, the skin underneath my fingerless gloves cracking just the slightest at the disturbance. I felt my teeth gnash into each other, and the familiar warmth stored in my chest flowed down my arms and pooled in the palms of my hands. The sensation burned, sapping at the meager amount of energy I had left, and my limbs ached with fatigue, but still the warmth seemed to expand and strengthen.

"Don't," was the single word that was murmured into my ear.

"Shut up," I ground out, but Robin had already turned back to the control panel. Even if I hated it, I listened to the Bird Brain and swallowed back the feeling, forcing my eyes shut and breathing out slowly.

"I think now would be the time to contact the League," Fish Stick told us.

Simultaneously, the three sidekicks tapped what I assumed were their communication devices. We all paused for a few seconds, waiting for any sort of reaction. But nothing happened.

"We're in too deep," Twinkle Toes muttered, "literally."

"Some technology, huh," I scoffed.

"Better than what you've got," Streaky retaliated.

"You would hope that a group of professionals would be better than an eleven-year-old."

"Not the time," Robin interrupted.

"What do we do now?" I grumbled, glaring at the floor as I traced pictures into it with my toes.

"Now, we set him free," Water Boy stated.

I swallowed back the retort that burned on my tongue, and merely crossed my arms over my flat chest. My eyes prickled, and I focused my glare on the floor. The hairs on the back of my neck and on my arms stood on end, and a foreboding shiver ran down my spine as I heard the hiss of the pod doors slide open. I took one last calming breath, making sure my eyes were no longer burning, before I looked up.

There were a few tense moments of absolute silence, only our quiet breathing being heard in the cavernous room. Test Tube Teen was perfectly still, and then his hand clenched into an aggressive looking fist. My breath caught in my throat, and I ever so subtly shifted behind Robin, who already looked prepared for the worst. That's when I knew this could turn ugly, like Christmas sweater ugly. Robin was a born actor, that much I knew for a fact, and I had seen him remain seemingly cheerful and just as annoying with the _**Joker**_ pointing a goddamn gun at his head. If Bird Brain was ready for a fight, then it'd be stupid not to follow his lead.

I narrowed my eyes sharply, peeking at the Test Tube Teen from around Robin's shoulder, and clenched my hands into tight fists, shortened nails digging into the thick leather of my fingerless gloves. This would be drawing on the last of my reserves, but I was itching for a fight. It was just as the clone opened his bright blue eyes that the scorching warmth flooded into my palms, the leather of the gloves easily absorbing the heat.

And then he lunged for us. Or, more specifically, he lunged for Fish Stick. It made sense in my mind, as Water Boy was really the only one of the four of us that _**looked**_ like a threat. But it still left me feeling miffed. Bird Brain and Slowpoke were about to dash for the two fighters, as the Atlantean was getting his face beaten in by the Kryptonian, but they were interrupted when the clone lifted Aqualad up by the collar and chucked him in our direction.

My body reacted before my mind could, sending me into a dive on the ground and a barrel-roll out of the way. Robin was right behind me, immediately leaping back to his feet as if it were the most natural thing in the world. His gloved hand wrapped around my arms and pulled me back onto my feet before he all but dragged me into a run. I slapped his hand, causing him to let go. He continued on, leaping on the clone's back and trying to gas him, while I ducked behind the control panel.

There was the sound of struggling, people being thrown about and punched here and there, as I turned to the control panel. Curling my hands into fists, I slammed them into the back of the controls, having to smash my fists several times, drawing blood around my knuckles, before the metal finally gave. It caved in, revealing the wires and inner workings of the machine. I didn't know much about technology, so I did what seemed like the most logical thing at the time: I grabbed a handful of wiring and ripped them straight out. They let out sparks, giving me a nasty shock and lightly singeing my fingertips.

"I hate technology," I muttered to myself. But, if the sidekicks were going to have their asses served to them, I'd at least like to foil some nefarious schemes.

I was really spending too much time with heroes.

And that was when I realized that the fighting had stopped. "Shit," I mouthed to myself. Balancing on the balls of my feet, I lifted myself up and peeked over the edge of the control panel. Just as my eyes were level with it, the entire metal block crumpled, shrapnel flew in several directions (including into my own skin) and sparks crackled in the air.

I reacted automatically, rolling backwards and leaping onto my feet. The Test Tube Teen was in the process of smashing the controls, before he turned his enraged blue eyes on me. Any other day, I would've thought his eyes were pretty (I was a sucker for blue eyes), but I was a bit more focused on _**not**_ getting killed to really notice.

He lunged straight for me. I dove to the side, but his iron-like grip fastened around my arm, nearly _**obliterating**_ my bones, and slammed me onto the ground. The wind rushed past my lips, a few specks of blood bubbling up with it. I wheezed and forced a gulp of air into my lungs before Test Tube loomed over me. His fist drew back, gathering potential energy to pound my face in.

"Wait!" I cried, throwing my hands into a state of surrender. "You can't punch a girl!"

The clone's enraged expression was replaced for a fleeting second, instead seeming mildly confused. I took the opening. Swinging my foot around, it hit right into the back of Test Tube's knee, barely throwing him off balance but allotting a few moments to spare. Taking a deep breath, my hand suddenly caught fire. I twisted my torso upwards, using the momentum to sucker punch the clone with a flaming ball of fist.

Test Tube, caught off guard by my attack, took a step back, a burn mark already grazed along on the bottom of his jaw. The flames that danced around in the palm of my hand flickered out.

"Dammit," I scowled just before a foot was slammed into my chest and everything tunneled into blackness.

I _**really**_ hated Mondays.

* * *

**A/N: Hey everyone! So, this is my latest project, and I have some high hopes for it (but no promises). Marching band has just ended for me, so I should be able to spend a decent amount of time working on this (although my dad expects me to actually **_**focus**_** on school as well). I haven't really got much else to say...**

** Oh! I plan on updating every Sunday (with a few exceptions here and there). And if there's any confusion as to the various nicknames that Vixen uses for all the other characters, feel free to pm me and I'll help sort that out. Also, my universe, which I've dubbed PyroVerse, is slightly different from canon (not by much, though, just some minor differences).**

** Non-canon that is 'canon' in PyroVerse because I said so: 1. Dick was adopted by Bruce when he was seven, and became Robin when he was eight. 2. Artemis lives in Star City, not Gotham. 3. Wally doesn't know Robin's secret identity. 4. Robin knew about the Watchtower before episode one (not because Batman told him, but because it's obvious and he's a detective). I think that's it so far...although there might be more added on later...If you have any problems with what happens in PyroVerse, too bad, so sad. Cry me a river, build a bridge, and get over it.**

** I hope you all enjoyed this! Please review! Question, comments, and critiques accepted!**

** Love,  
~AvenJackel**


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